REVIEW article
Front. Robot. AI
Sec. Human-Robot Interaction
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frobt.2025.1491494
Neurotechnology for Enhancing Human Operation of Robotic and Semi-autonomous Systems
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, United States
- 2IST, LLC, Dover, Delaware, United States
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Human operators of remote and semi-autonomous systems must have a high level of executive function to safely and efficiently conduct operations. These operators face unique cognitive challenges when monitoring and controlling robotic machines, such as vehicles, drones, and construction equipment. The development of safe and experienced human operators of remote machines requires structured training and credentialing programs. This review critically evaluates the potential for incorporating neurotechnology into remote systems operator training and work to enhance human-machine interactions, performance, and safety. Recent evidence demonstrating that different noninvasive neuromodulation and neurofeedback methods can improve critical executive functions such as attention, learning, memory, and cognitive control is reviewed. We further describe how these approaches can be used to improve training outcomes, as well as teleoperator vigilance and decision-making. We also describe how neuromodulation can help remote operators during complex or high-risk tasks by mitigating impulsive decision-making and cognitive errors. While our review advocates for incorporating neurotechnology into remote operator training programs, continued research is required to evaluate the how these approaches will impact industrial safety and workforce readiness.
Keywords: Human-machine, neurotechnology, Neuromodulation, BCI, Cognition, teleoperations, Attention
Received: 05 Sep 2024; Accepted: 24 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tyler. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: William J Tyler, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, United States
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.